What Comes Next

If you had told me when I first picked up the guitar that in a year and a half, I'd have found a singer and performed my first set, I'd probably have been somewhere between excited and scoffing. But, now it's happened. This is what I was looking forward to, part of why I started playing. So what comes next?

Well, we're starting to work on our next set list. But in putting it like that, it almost makes it seem like things have stagnated. In reality, I've gotta keep pushing forward. There are still a lot of things I need to practice, a lot of things I can't play.

We were looking through songs this morning, and it turns out we both have about the same taste in music. Makes it a lot easier to pick songs. But it's not just sound that we have to consider. We made up a list of songs to look into, and of course the next step is for me to listen to them and search for sheet music. And herein lies the frustrations of guitar playing.

So many things need to culminate when it comes to learning a new song: for one, there has to be music tabbed out-- not only that, it has to be in a readable format. If you already play guitar, bear with me for a moment while I explain: guitarists often use "tabs" instead of sheet music. In essence, these either list chords, or tell you where to place your fingers on the strings. A lot of us don't read sheet music with half notes and quarter notes, the way a violinist would. And tabs aren't usually something released by a band. When you search for a tab, you're relying on someone else's hearing and knowledge of chords. If you've got an ear for it, that's great; if you're like me, you're barely a step above tone-deaf.

The second thing that makes new songs difficult is the instrument(s) used for the background music. If you're listening to an acoustic song, this is wonderful, because it's very easy to figure out the strumming pattern. If the song is mainly finger-picking, you try to make up your own rhythm that fits the lyrics. If you're attempting a piano song, and have never played piano, that's a whole different ball game.

Lastly, a lot of songs use some techniques that are either very difficult, or are difficult to employ on an acoustic guitar. Bar chords for example, require you to hold all six strings down with your index finger. This is where the lack of strength in my hands has come back to haunt me: there are very few bar chords I can play before my hand gets very tired.

There are other techniques such as "hammer on", which means that as you place your finger on a higher fret after plucking the string; the opposite, "pull off", is exactly what it sounds like. You pull a finger off the string, after plucking. The difference these make to the sound is only marginal on an acoustic, unless you're plugged in; but sometimes, they can make a world of difference in how the song sounds.

Lastly, there's bending, which means sliding your fingers horizontally along the fret board to warp the sound of a chord. This depends on the flexibility of your strings, and I don't think I'd suggest it for beginners. It's very easy to snap a string like this.

So, now with some basic knowledge of the guitarist's frustrations, you can understand how difficult it is to translate a beautiful piano song like The Minnow And The Trout onto the guitar; or how annoying it can be to listen to a perfectly clear acoustic song, like King of Carrot Flowers, and be unable to play because of the bar chords. Sometimes, even if a song seems perfectly viable, like the acoustic version of My Immortal, the bridge can be impossible to make out, which completely rules it out as a live option.

Such are the problems a self-taught guitarist and talented vocalist can encounter in creating new set lists. As much as I've come to love the stage, it's probably a good thing the next Open Mic Night isn't for another month.

-Kal